I have a letter from my grandfather's brother
Mendel from Virbalis in 1921 that could be attached to the
Virbalis page if you think they would be of general interest, as
well as a letter from my grandfather's mother Tsivya Kamelsky, nee
Salinger. Mendel's letter
(see below) is full of names and facts
and historical perspective. Tsivya's letter (see
below) is remarkable in that it was
sent days before the Nazis rounded up the Kaunas (Kovno) Jews. The
envelope has the Nazi postmark complete with swastika (see below).

My grandfather William Miller (Wolf Kamelsky)
came to the US from Virbalis in 1911, and his sister Ida (Chaya
Dina) followed about 1914. His sisters Rifke, Itte Leah and Tsiril
and brother Mendel remained in Virbalis. Rifke married and lived
in Kaunas. Sister Itte Leah lived with Rifke and her family.
Mendel remained in Virbalis. Itte Leah and Mendel were unmarried.
It is believed that Tsiril left Lithuania before the war, but no
one knows where she may have gone. Rifke and Itte Leah perished in
the Kaunas Ghetto in 1943, but Rifke's son was smuggled out of the
ghetto and sheltered by gentiles and today lives in Prienai,
Lithuania. He was located through the help of a JewishGenner and
reunited with family he never knew he had.

Marty

Martin Miller in Syracuse, NY

Mendel's
Letter

28 October 1921

To my dearly beloved brother William, may he
live and be well.

First of all, I can write you that I am thank
God in good health. To hear the same of you.

I can write you that we are not working now
since the 9th of May. I can write you that we worked for 18
months. The whole time Hershel Pesach Gringard and his brother
Chaim Feivel ran the factory. Lev Adarsky came from Russia after
Pesach, and he took sick with typhus and was in bed for 2 weeks in
Naishtat and died. Mendel Adarsky came from Russia and went to
America to his wife, and Nissan is now in Virballen, and Zelig
came and is now with his sister Basha in Berlin, and maybe Zelig
will begin to peddle again.

And you ask where I have been all this time. I
can write that on 10 November 1916 the German occupation
higher-ups took me away to forced labor, and I spent 13 months.
The whole time I worked in the forest. In the very beginning they
sent me to Vilna, and I spent 2 weeks in the Antakaler Prison in
Vilna. That was the collection point for all the forced laborers,
and later they sent 420 of us men to Podbrodzhe, 3 stations beyond
Vilna, and there we worked for 7 months in the forest on a highway
detail. Thirty degrees below zero, and we remained outside and
worked there. They ended the work there and sent us to Yevye, 2
stations from Vilna in the direction of Kovno. There I worked for
6 weeks, and then I worked near Neiman for 5 months. Then I was
released, and I peddled for two years. Then we found work and
earned 900 Marks a week.

Further, with regard to what you write about
coming to America, I should ask you why should I come to America
when you're not setting the world on fire there either, and when
there are 4 million unemployed.

I can write you that in Lithuania they drafted
up to age 23. This year they only took 21 year-olds, and I didn't
have to go to the military. Now we have a horse and wagon, and we
peddle.

I can write you that many Lithuanians come from
America and bring much money. There are people in Virballen that
do nothing and receive a lot of money from America and live on
that. I can write you that Layzer Adarsky came after Pesach for a
visit from New York with Feivel Gringard from Stockholm.

The 500 Marks Ida sent for Rifka we have not
yet received. The way she writes things are good for her, but she
has shown us no generosity. In a whole year she sent us 2 dollars.
We only know what others receive from America. I can tell you that
everything is expensive now in Lithuania. An egg costs 4 Marks, a
pound of butter 20 Marks, a sack of potatoes 40 Marks, a liter of
milk 4 Marks. One room costs 80 Marks a month, a pound of bread
costs 120 Pennies, a meter of wood 150 Marks, and it's hard to get
along.

I have no more news to write you. Be well. From
your brother Mendel, who wishes you and your wife and children
long life and good health for the New Year.

Tsivya's
Letter

KAUNAS, 13 June 1941

To my dearly beloved son, may he live and be
well.

What is the reason you haven't written me for
so long, it's been two years' time that I haven't received a
letter from you. I would really like to know how you're doing and
how you are, also the same of your wife and children. I, my dear
son, am very sick and weak. I can barely get around any more. I
have experienced enough sorrow in my life! Your father recently
was ill, for several weeks he lay in bed, his heart had become
very weak. He died on 18 Nisan, Holhamoed Pesach. I have only one
request for you, when you can, if time allows, say Kaddish for
your father. I am now at Rifke's in Kovno, and now only Mendel is
left in Verzhbalov. Whether or not he says Kaddish, I can't tell
you for sure, probably not. I believe you know him very well. I am
bitter enough at having two sons, but not one Kaddish. I hope, my
dear son, that you will be able to fulfill my last wish.

For now I have no special news to write. I wish
you and your wife and children good health several times over. I
hope for a prompt reply.

Regards from your sisters, Itte Leah, Rifke and Tsirke.

From: "Martin Miller"
<millerm@mailbox.syr.edu>

To: "Joseph Rosin"

Cc: <alpert@ll.mit.edu>

Subject: RE: Virbalis

Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999

Dear Joseph and Joel,

The letter (above) is dated June 13, 1941 but the postmark is 6/20 or it
might be 6/26. digit after the 2 is not clear. I looked at it
under a magnifying glass and still can't be sure, although I'd say
it was 20 rather than 26, but history would be the final
judge.

Here is the front and back of the envelope.
Many have expressed surpriset hat any mail got out at all at that
late date [after the Nazi invasion of Lithuania on June 21,
1941].

I also have a picture postcard (see below)
from Virbalis, mailed in 1911 or 1912. The scene depicted is the
marketplace, and the postcard says, "Greetings fromVirbalis"
[Gruss Aus Wirballen ] in German and Russian. What's more interesting is that
the couple of post cards were both dated a certain number of days
after the postmark. I finally realized that they had apparently
gone to the modern calendar style ahead of Russia, which had to
wait until after the Revolution I believe.

Regards and thanks for all your help and
interest.

Marty

Picture postcard from Virbalis, mailed
in 1911 or 1912

From: "Martin Miller"
<millerm@mailbox.syr.edu>

To: "Joel Alpert", "JosephRosin"

Subject: RE: 1927 Picture from Sudargas

Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999

Here is the one postcard. Those that know
Russian will see a misspelling.

The card was from my grandfather's sister
Chaya Dina Kamelsky. She says that

she sews in Kibartai from Sunday to Friday
night for two rubles a week plus

board.

Marty

Martin Miller in Syracuse, NY

mailto:millerm@mailbox.syr.edu

http://web.syr.edu/~millerm/index.htm

From: "Martin Miller"
<millerm@mailbox.syr.edu>

To: "Joel Alpert", "JosephRosin"

Subject: Another postcard

Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999

Here is the second picture postcard from
Virbalis. At least I believe it is a postcard, as I don't think
it's a family picture (see below).

I've never been able to decipher the message
completely, although Chaya Dinah mentions that one Sarah Ettel had
written to my grandfather. A girl he left behind. In another
letter his mother asks about Feyga Leah and her son

Kalman Yonah.

The ship's manifest said my grandfather was
going to an uncle Jacob Sternstein in Brooklyn. I researched the
name and address and the family did live at that same address from
1910 to 1920. Never heard of them and haven't found a trace. We
always thought that he was going to Altoona, PA, but don't know if
he ever got there either. These cards are addressed to him here in
Syracuse, the first within several months of his arrival in the US
in November 1911. There is an address for a Carl Sokolsky in
Altoona in his address book. Otherwise everything is a
mystery.

Thanks for listening.

Marty

Martin Miller in Syracuse, NY

From: "Martin Miller"
<millerm@mailbox.syr.edu>

To: "Joseph Rosin"

Cc: <alpert@ll.mit.edu>

Subject: RE: 1927 Picture from Sudargas

Date: Sun, 25 Apr 1999

Dear Joseph and Joel,

By all means use anything I've sent. Your
writings on Virbalis, Kybartai and Sudargas have given me much
comfort. Since I know so little about my grandfather and have
found so little, it feels good to know more about the places that
were familiar to him and the folks among whom he lived.